New Building with 25 Apartments Could Come to Bergen-Lafayette

Plans to bring a new multi-family residential building to a small lot at the eastern edge of Jersey City’s Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood have been revealed.

Ash Street Property, LLC is looking to construct a six-story building at 17A-19 Ash Street, a vacant tract located at the corner of Whiton Street in Ward F. The site, which used to contain a two-family house and an empty wooded lot, could possibly contain a structure with 25 residential units and eight parking spaces, according to a legal notice. As of November 2017, 15 percent of the units were expected to be designated as “affordable.”

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Last year, the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency designated Ash Street Property, LLC as the redeveloper of the property, which sits within the Lafayette Park Redevelopment Plan Area. Plus, earlier this year, the agency executed a redevelopment agreement with the company. A resolution authorizing the agreement stated that the LLC has “resources and a team of experts in planning, redevelopment, law, engineering, environmental issues, architecture, design, finance, and real estate development necessary to effectuate the redevelopment of the property in accordance with the redevelopment plan.”

The legal notice states that the LLC’s application for Preliminary and Final Site Plan approval with variances such as minimum front yard setback and maximum building coverage had been initially scheduled to go before the Jersey City Planning Board on Tuesday, October 16 at 5:30 p.m. City tax records show that the development firm is registered out of the Hackensack office of Liquidity Solutions.

This is one of dozens of development proposals in the neighborhood, which, in part because of the Liberty State Park Light Rail station, is rapidly becoming denser and less industrial as more residential projects move in. The corner of Ash and Whiton Streets alone has changed drastically over the last decade, with three of the four properties at the intersection having gone from being vacant or being used for light industrial purposes to containing recently completed or upcoming developments. The fate of the fourth property, 17A-19 Ash Street, could soon be known.

Note to readers: The dates that applications are scheduled to be heard by the Jersey City Planning Board and other commissions are subject to change.